Month: October 2015

Nominations for 2016 Announced

At the October 19th meeting, Nomination Chair, Rich Nagel W8KU announced the nominations for the 2016 Board positions as follows:

President: Hal Rogers K8CMD
Vice President: Jeff Ronay KF8CQ
Secretary: John Malloy KA8VTV
Treasurer: Jim Bis N8FND
Trustee: Dave Semanik K8WRS

Current Vice President, Dave Semanik K8WRS, decided to not run for another term in that position. However Dave was nominated to remain on the board for a one year term as Trustee for 2016.  Although our By Laws permit, we have not had a Trustee in recent years.

Jeff Ronay KF8CQ is a new member. Jeff, volunteered to be nominated for the Vice President position. Larry Shimerka KC8VZZ will be vacating the Treasurer seat.  Jim Bis N8FND will was nominated for the Treasurer position.

Elections will be at the November business meetng, November 16th. Since the offices have only one nominee, in accordance with the PRC By Laws the election will be decided by a motion of acclamation.

 

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Hal Rogers K8CMD, Communications Director

The past meeting’s program in which we enjoyed the old film, “Crystals go to War” created much discussion about the crystals used for transmitting and receiving.  Rich Nagle W8KU provided a short presentation prior to the film that included some show and tell samples of crystals. Thanks to Ken Osicki K8OAE for the photo:

Above, a disassembled FT-243 transmitting crystal. Inside, is a thin sliver of quartz sandwiched between two metal squares, foil electrical contacts, a rubber seal and a spring that applies a constant gentle pressure to the “sandwich”.  The highest square in the above photo, is the fragile sliver of quartz. 

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Next meeting Monday October 19th

 Our next meeting is Monday October 19th, a business meeting. A major topic will be the finalization of the slate of officers for the 2016 PRC election. If you wish to hold an office in the PRC contact RIch Nagle W8KU, Elections Chairman.

I can’t stress enough how important is for everyone to step up and do what they can to keep our club going. No function in this club is all-consuming. It’s the minimal effort of many that make the PRC possible. We have a couple of officers who can not be available next year. Those slots are open. If they are not filled we can not remain an ARRL affiliated club! Please do what you can. Discuss your interest with Rich Nagle W8KU, Elections Chairman.

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Microsoft Creates the Quietest Place on Earth

You might think that a library reading room or well-insulated basement is a quiet place, but compared to the anechoic chamber in Microsoft’s audio lab, they’re about as quiet as a jumbo jet. The chamber, housed in Building 87 on the company’s Redmond, Washington, campus, was recently verified by (who else?) Guinness as being the quietest place in the entire world, reaching an eardrum-bending -20.3 decibels.

That’s amazingly close to the limit of how quiet things can be on our planet: -23 decibels or so, which is the amount of noise made by air molecules bouncing off one another. Of course, it’s much quieter in space — silent, in fact. But going to space is cheating, since there’s no air to propagate sound. The previous record was -13 decibels, set at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis.

For the video:  Quietest Place on Earth

NBC News

 

 Hal Rogers K8CMD

Communications Director

 

Approaching Election time

At the past meeting Rich Nagel W8KU stepped up to be nominated as  Election Chairman for the November board election.

Rich reminds us that the positions available will be: President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. For a review of the duties of these positions please see the club By Laws at PRC By Laws. 

Be sure to review Article 6 for details about club elections. Nominations will be accepted until the October business meeting. Following the October meeting ballots will be prepared and made available to members in good standing.

Elections will be held at the November business meeting.

If you are interested in running for any of these positions, please contact Rich Nagel at parmaradioclub@gmail.com.

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Thanks to Bill Squires N8WS  for his very informative program on the ARRL QSL bureau. Bill brought many years of experience to this presentation (15?) and announced that he was in the process of turning the chores over to another ham.

Bill also shared photos from various club events.  These have all been posted on our club album and the link is below and toward the left of this post.

 

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 Meeting Oct 5th

 

What is a piezoelectric crystal? We’ll briefly discuss how these amazing devices work and show a few at the next meeting.

Piezoelectric crystals have long-played an important role in generating a stable radio frequency oscillator. While other means of generating a stable frequency have been developed since the early days,  the quartz crystal can be said to have helped us win WWII. Our program at the October 5th meeting will be a 1943 Signal Corps film entitled, Crystal go to War. Many thanks to Bob Majkrzak KA8WQL for bringing this informative historic film to our attention. 

 

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  Father of single sideband on amateur radio passes

The man who could be called the father of single sideband on amateur radio is a silent key.  Wes Schum, W9DYV passed away last week at the age of 94.  Wes Schum founded Central Electronics in 1949, the first product that Central Electronics manufactured was a hearing aid device.  

But radio was what Wes envisioned for CE.  He had a budding interest in single sideband during World War II.  He and colleague Joe Batchelor began development of amateur SSB transmitters for use on 75 meters.  The Central Electronics 10-A exciter, the company’s first amateur product, is credited for being amateur radio’s first practical SSB transmitter.

The next time you call CQ on single sideband send up a little thank you in memory of this unsung amateur radio pioneer, Wes Schum, W9DYV.

 courtesy www.arnewsline.org

A Phish Story

One of the many benefits afforded ARRL members and affiliated clubs is an “email alias” that forwards mail to your email address. An e-mail to w8prc@arrl.net will be forwarded to our regular email address.  This is convenient when. for example, you don’t want to divulge your email address publicly.

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If you use an arrl dot net email alias and the ARRL email forwarding service, be on the lookout for a phishing scam. A number of ARRL members have reported to the League that they received an email from “Arrl Webmail Admin” with “account upgrade” in the subject line. The email requests such personal information as user names and passwords, and includes a bogus message telling the recipient that the accounts are being removed and upgraded to an enhanced service. The ARRL emphatically states this is not an official message and is cautioning recipients of these emails.

Andy Shefrin, KB1YHB, the ARRL’s IT Infrastructure and Operations Manager, says: “The ARRL is aware of this phishing scheme and is working to block the sender’s  email address at our upstream provider. As with any emails of unknown origin, do not open or reply.”

In short, ignore it. If you do develop problems with e-mail forwarding, contact the ARRL IT Department.

courtesy www.arnewsline.org

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Bill  Squires N8WS’ photos are in 5 separate albums that all bigin with his name. to check them out, use the link above and click the HOME tab or use the ALBUMS link to the left.

Many thanks to grillmaster Mike N8WHB and wife Sharon Pardue for sharing her photos from the recent picnic. Check them out by clicking this link: Sharon Pardues’s photos from the picnic